Community News

25 Years Ago
Fourteen First American Bank employees at branches in Rockwood, Harriman, Kingston and Spring City received permanent layoff notices due to what a Knoxville bank official called duplication of services after the acquisition of Roane County’s First National Bank. “We can’t afford to do that,” said Robert A. McCabe Jr., First American Bank president. McCabe said officials tried to pick employees with the least seniority and whose job skills were not needed due to refinement in operations.

An update on the Guest House/Alexander Inn renovation project will be given during the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association's membership and public meeting on July 11.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Midtown Community Center, 102 Robertsville Road.

Rick Dover, general manager of the Family Pride Corp. and Knox Heritage's Ethiel Garlington, director of preservation field services for the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance, will present the program.

By the time the United States of America declared its independence from the British Empire, John Adams and some of his contemporaries called for fireworks to celebrate the occasion, and we have been doing likewise ever since.

No one knows with certainty just when or where fireworks came into being. Most historians believe they were invented in ancient China in about the second century B.C., at the time of discovery of gunpowder.

Road construction won’t slow motorists across Tennessee over the Fourth of July holiday.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation will suspend all construction-related lane closures on interstates and state routes beginning at 6 a.m. July 3 through 6 a.m. July 8 to provide maximum roadway capacity for holiday travelers.